THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL

Author: Sarah Elliott ISBN: 0373294204 11/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: HARLEQUIN
Time Period: Regency

A scandalous secret was part of the dowry Katherine Sutcliff would bring to her bridal bed. And any prospective suitor on the Marriage Mart would have to live with it—or live without her! But her pressing need for a suitable match was diverted by her most unsuitable attraction to the disreputable Lord Benjamin Sinclair. A rakish life has been Benjamin's choice, but now the adventurous gentleman was tempted to stay closer to home. How else could he keep a watchful eye on Kate Sutcliff, when the gangly girl he'd been teased in childhood had grown into a most unconventional beauty?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Regencies have been one of my favorite romantic genres for a number of years.

I love to slip into a good Regency—be it a traditional Regency or a historical Regency. All that glamour, all that fashion, all those rules of society and all those delicious, wicked, rakish heroes have long intrigued me.

So I couldn't wait to dig into Sarah Elliot's THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL. What started with a lot of promise, however, did not quite live up to my expectations.

Ms. Elliot can write, without question. Her story was creditable, including the neat little mystery being played out in the pages of THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL.

What I had problems with in this story were Ms. Elliot's main characters. Both Katherine Sutcliff and Benjamin Sinclair snagged my attention—in the beginning. Both began as characters I could like, Katherine being spirited and Benjamin being a rake.

There were definitely sparks flying between these two characters. The sexual tension in this story wasn't the problem. The problem was Katherine soon became annoying. She wasn't quite TSTL, but she was close. Real close. And Ben became a bore.

Katherine, in particular, did not act logical much of the time. For someone who wanted to be an independent, successful businesswoman, she had a habit of ignoring problems hoping they would go away.

In addition, what could have been a terrific romance was marred by constant fussing and feuding. It was obvious Katherine and Ben cared for one another so I wanted to scream (over and over again), "Talk to each other. Please!"

As a Regency fan, I have also gotten a lot of pleasure researching the period. It amazes me some Regency writers do not appear to research the period they are delving into. For example, some of the titles given the characters in THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL were wrong. The offspring of anything below an earl do not have honorary titles. As the son of a viscount, Ben would not be a 'Lord', but a 'Mister'. Kate was the daughter of a baron, so was a 'Miss' and not a 'Lady'.

All in all, I couldn't work up a lot of enthusiasm for THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL. The constant bickering between the the romantic couple spoiled the Ms. Elliot's effort for me.

Debbie Jett